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Not very even heating

Toasting machines are one of those things everyone buys when they fancy a cheese toastie, and you go through a phase of having them all the time for about a month or two. It then gets relegated to the back of the deep corner cupboard in your kitchen, to re-emerge a year later when you have a clear out. I was hoping to use this one more often and got one that would hold 4 sandwiches but unfortunately it doesn't toast them evenly. This Russell Hobbs model wasn't hugely expensive, but certainly not the cheapest, so I was expecting a bit more. The bread I use does fit inside the machine, so it's not like the edges are poking out and therefore don't get toasted. For some reason some edges just barely toast, and of course trying to turn it halfway through just creates a mess and never quite fits properly with the divider etc.

I was also hoping to avoid the usual melted cheese dripping down the back of the machine, managing to get in all the nooks and crannies, but no such luck, so must happen with all types.

It does the job, considering how often you realistically use it, and it's not like a toastie needs to be perfect, you don't exactly serve these at dinner parties. However, for the price you pay, and the clean up you need to do afterwards, I expect more. Mine has once again been relegated to the back of a cupboard and will probably gather dust for another year.

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Everyone loves a good cheese toasty and I am no exception. This is a machine that I bought at university as it solved a very pertinent problem. My mum kept saying to me, "Make sure you get a hot dinner. You need something warm." Well this solved those problems; a cheese toastie was a hot dinner! Bingo. It was a good solution. The toasted sandwich maker worked well for around 6 months and then went kaput.This machine is covered by the warranty for 12 months however as I did not have any documents or receipts; I could not be bothered with the hassle. I used the toaster regularly prior to the problems and it was fine and easy to use. The problem stemmed from the grill, one day the top half just stopped heating up.The grill is a fundamental part of the toaster so unfortunately I could not use it after this. The toaster is a silver machine with a black metal grill inside, it has a lock to squeeze the two grills together. The idea is that as you pull on the handle and lock the grill, the sandwich is sealed inside and the ends of the toast are actually squeezed together and sealed closed. You can put a number of items in the machine and make a variety of meals.After this awful machine broke down, I acquired a Diablo which is a manual grill and you can toast a sandwich or other things on the hob, therefore you will never suffer a malfunction. If you prefer this model of machine then I will give you a brief insight into how to use it. Firstly butter two slices of bread and lay the first on the bottom of the grill, this is shaped like two triangles. Then you need to add your cheese and other bits and lay the bread on top with the butter side face up. Once you have done this, pull on the handle and pull down the grill. This then cooks the sandwich and in 5 minutes you will have two sealed triangles of toasted sandwich. The cheese is melted inside and they taste delicious.The grill was quick to fire up and cook, until the day that only half of it worked. Since having the Diablo, I came to realise that these machines are pointless as they are bulky and take up too much room. They also can break down quickly too as the Diablo is not electric this is not a problem. This machine can still be bought for £14 which is cheap but as it broke after 6 months I would not recommend it.